The Battle No One Wants to Fight
by FrUkingWarriors
Summary: Twenty-four cats from the Clans will be forced to battle each other to the death. Only two will return home. In this game of betrayal, heartbreak, and loss, no one is guaranteed safety. Rated T for gore and because I'm paranoid.
1. Prologue

The Clans beat the Dark Forest just barely. But what if the Dark Forest attacked again, just a moon after the first time? This is what would happen if they had.

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><p>Bramblestar's eyes were shining with tears. The Dark Forest had done this on purpose. They had left the cats in their misery, not killed them like they had before. They had left many cats weakened and even some still had passed from their injuries. He choked back a sob and turned to the other leaders. They were gathered–where else–on the Gathering Island.<p>

Mistystar looked heartbroken. A sullen shadow glazed her eyes, one that had not even existed in the Battle of the Stars. Her breaths were coming in ragged gasps–there was a deep cut on her chest–and she shook. She, too, was on the brink of tears.

Blackstar's emotionless face was curved into a frown. But not an upset frown–one of sadness and regret, and one of never-ending misery. His eyes foretold his emotion: he was tired and hopeless. And, though he was trying to hide it as best he could, he had already cried.

Onestar was crying silently. Sniffles could be heard as the young leader struggled to keep himself in order. His eyes were shut tight, and the only thing on his face was sadness. His lip quivered and his whole body shook with a great amount of force. He collapsed to the ground in a soggy, bawling heap.

Mistystar was the first to speak. She sniffled. "This has gone on far enough."

Bramblestar nodded, blinking away the tears in his eyes. "A-agreed. Sitting around here being sad does nothing for us."

Onestar got up. His eyes were red. "I... I s-s-second that... It's very... solid," he managed between sobs.

Blackstar sat there, stony faced. Another screech was heard in the distance; it was not an unusual sound these days. He cringed, and let out a long, loud sigh. Blackstar was not one to quit, but with eyes swimming with tears it was an exception.

"I... I think we should surrender."

All heads turned toward the white tom. Mistystar had a look of shock plastered upon her face; Onestar had stopped crying, his mouth hanging open; even Bramblestar had paused, staring wide-eyed at Blackstar.

"Surrender?" Bramblestar said, starting to smile for the first time in a long while. "Those are words I never thought I'd hear come out of your mouth."

True, Blackstar was the oldest of the leaders, but that didn't make him the wisest. However, this was an idea that verified his wisdom. Mistystar grinned.

Onestar spoke up. "No way," he said snappishly. "If we lose, they'll make us do the thing they said they would."

Blackstar's head snapped toward Onestar, his eyes narrowed. "Do you _want_ the Clans to fall?"

Onestar shrank down. "N-no, but I–"

Blackstar snarled. "If you want the Clans to fall, then you shouldn't be here–"

"Silence," Mistystar ordered in a stern voice. Blackstar and Onestar shot one another a finishing glare before looking at Mistystar.

"I think Blackstar has a valid point. We cannot risk any more cats getting injured or dying." Then she sighed. "However, we cannot risk the fall of the Clans because of all the cats dying. The Clans have lived on for generations, and you want them to fall at the paws of cats who have done nothing but wrong to them?"

"I think we should vote," Onestar said proudly.

"I agree, for once," Blackstar sighed, nodding. "This calls for democatic–er, sorry, demo_cratic _measures."

Bramblestar nodded. "Well, that's one vote surrender, one vote persevere." He nodded at Mistystar, who had a nervous look in her eyes.

"I.. I think we should surrender," she said after a while. "We can't keep going like this forever. Cats are going to die and we need to stop before the Clans crumble."

Blackstar shot Onestar a smug look.

"So, Bramblestar, what are we to do?" Onestar looked over at Bramblestar, eyes full of hope.

Bramblestar felt his heart pounding in his chest. He looked at the leaders, all staring at him. He felt himself getting nervous.

He took a deep breath.

"The Clans cannot risk any more cats going down," he said softly. "I... I think that we should surrender."

Onestar gasped. "What have you done, Bramblestar?!"

As if on cue, two Dark Forest cats came into view. Darkstripe and Snowtuft appeared from nowhere and started walking toward the leaders.

"What do you two want?" Blackstar snarled.

"To make sure you weren't lying," Darkstripe snapped, and leapt forward.

"You _weren't_ lying, were you?" Snowtuft asked, a threatening tone to his voice.

Bramblestar shook his head. "Honestly, I'd have to ask you the same thing. Will you leave us alone if we do your stupid favor?"

Darkstripe scoffed. "We may be in the Place of No Stars, but that doesn't mean we're not cats of our honor."

Mistystar sighed. "Okay. We're not lying. We promise, on our honor by StarClan."

"On our honor by StarClan," Snowtuft mocked. He huffed exasperatedly. "Alright. The deal is done." He waved his tail, and the sky suddenly darkened.

What he said next echoed all around the forest in a booming voice.

"Welcome, Cats of the Clans," he said in a voice quite a bit like that of an announcer, "to the First Annual Battle Nobody Wants to Fight!"


	2. Chapter 1: Tawnypelt's POV

**Chapter 1: Tawnypelt's POV**

The cats of ShadowClan trudged behind Blackstar. Tawnypelt glanced nervously over at her mate, who gave her a small wink. _StarClan, don't let Rowanclaw get dragged into this_, she prayed. Then she looked down at her kits, Rainkit and Featherkit. Oh, her two beautiful kits, who would die at the ferocious claws of a merciless cat...

They heard Snowtuft's announcer voice booming from miles away. The Gathering Island had been turned into a sort of headquarters for the Dark Forest; their cats walked around, mingling.

Tawnypelt cowered under the sharp gaze of Thistleclaw, who was glaring at her intently. "I'm going to make quite sure you get what you deserve," he spat. Tawnypelt narrowed her eyes at him and continued walking.

"Ah, ShadowClan arrived first," Snowtuft said, a wide grin spreading on his face as he came into view. "Well, first come, first serve."

Antpelt's head snapped around. He was the greeter. He grinned almost insanely and guided ShadowClan to their area.

"Well, as you may or may not know, every cat is eligible for the Battle Nobody Wants to Fight, from the smallest kit to the oldest elder," Snowtuft explained. "A cat's name gets entered one time each moon unless they'd like to be placed in again. In this case, they will get hunting rights in the Dark Forest territory–"he motioned to the island"–for a quarter-moon. A cat may enter their name as many times as they want, as long as they are sure that they want a larger chance of being picked. Remember, cats of the Clans, only two cats will return. Whether they are from the same Clan or not, only two cats fro. m the forest will see their Clan again."

"I am sure we're all ready," he said in a perky voice, "because now I'm going to turn you over to Darkstripe. He is the cat who will choose the cats from the drawings."

Darkstripe grinned in the same insane way as Antpelt. Then he turned around and whispered something to Snowtuft, who whispered something back.

"Alright! The drawing ball is right up here, so if ShadowClan would just follow me, please..."

Tension grew. Darkstripe turned toward the drawing ball and picked a slip of Twoleg paper out with his tail. He skillfully unfolded it and grinned.

"Alright," he said, handing it over to Snowtuft. The white cat cleared his throat.

"First ShadowClan cat... Toadfoot!"

The dark brown tom jumped up, looking around. Then he plastered a proud look on his face and waddled up to the gathering tree. Tawnypelt knew it was fake, however; nervousness showed in his eyes.

"Come on up here, Toady. Now, our second victi–er, competitor..." Snowtuft announced while Darkstripe picked out another slip of paper.

"Ah, Ferretclaw!" Snowtuft shouted, and the cream tom marched up, a sly grin on his face.

Tawnypelt noticed Featherkit and Rainkit cozy up to her. She grinned at them.

"Mistpaw," Snowtuft announced, and the gray she-cat bounced up to the stage in excitement.

The cats were silent. ThunderClan marched in next, and Antpelt went over to greet them. Darkstripe took out a slip of paper and handed it to Snowtuft, whose expression softened. He coughed.

"Ah-he-hem." He sighed. "Rainkit."

Murmurs passed through the crowd. Tawnypelt felt her head spinning. She sat down. Rainkit glanced up at her with weary eyes. "W-what?"

"Go on, baby," she said supportively, tears swimming in her eyes. "I believe in you."

The little tom nodded and walked up to the stage, stumbling on his stumpy, small legs.

_You will pay for this_, she thought to herself as she sat down, blinking away the tears. Rowanclaw dragged his tail along her flank supportively.

Snowtuft grinned and took the next slip of paper. He read the name and grinned. "Ah. Rowanclaw." He grinned.

Tawnypelt let out a mournful wail. Her kit _and_ her mate? Featherkit looked up at her worriedly. "It's okay, my precious. He _will_ come back."

"And now, for our final ShadowClan representative." Snowtuft sighed as he read the last slip of paper.

His expression brightened, happy in a malicious way.

"Oh, a whole family in the Battle. How sweet."

Tawnypelt's heart pounded. Did he mean–?

"Our final ShadowClan representative is Tawnypelt."

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><p><strong>A.N.\\**

**Welcome, dear reader, to the Battle No One Wants to Fight. Prepare yourself for thrills, chills, and lots of upsetting, kick-your-seat frustrating plot twists.**

**Enjoy c:**

**-FW**


	3. Chapter 2: Seedpaw's POV

**/A.N.\\**

**Just so you know, this chapter and a few after will be fairly short. Sorry for the inconvenience, and enjoy!**

**-FW**

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><p>Chapter 2: Seedpaw's POV<p>

Seedpaw sighed. _Poor Tawnypelt_. Her mate, her kit, and herself were in the Battle, and her other kit was left alone.

"Now for ThunderClan," Snowtuft announced.

Murmurs erupted through the crowd. Snowtuft stayed with an annoyed look on his face. Then he shouted, "SILENCE!" and the whole island shut up.

Seedpaw glanced nervously at her sister, Lilypaw. Lilypaw just shrugged, a nervous expression in her eyes.

Darkstripe took out a white thing from a clear sphere–_is that paper?_–and gave it to Snowtuft. Snowtuft's grin spread ear to ear his face.

"Our first competitor is Hazeltail."

Hazeltail gasped. Seedpaw could almost hear her heart beating. Daisy let out a caterwaul. But Seedpaw knew Daisy couldn't volunteer–she barely knew how to fight.

"Next is–ooh, here's a good one," Snowtuft commented, "Millie."

Seedpaw heard a voice screaming. "No! No, no, no! I refuse!" Graystripe bounded up. "No! I need to let her live! Oh, just take me instead!"

Snowtuft grinned. "Ahh, okay then. Our first volunteer, everyone, Graystripe from ThunderClan!"

The crowd was silent.

"Cheer, filthy Clan scum!" he shouted. ThunderClan and ShadowClan burst into sarcastic whoops.

Graystripe touched noses with Millie. Seedpaw saw tears falling down Millie's face. Seedpaw felt a pang of sadness as Millie jumped down, choking back sobs. Bumblestripe padded up and started comforting her.

"Now, for our third ThunderClan competitor–oh, stop crying, you baby," he said to Graystripe, then continued, "Mm, Berrynose."

The cream tom jumped out from the crowd and cheered. Daisy started screaming, and then Berrynose sighed. "Daisy, I'll be okay," he said comfortingly and jumped onto the stage.

"Two family rivalries are gonna erupt in these games." Then Snowtuft sighed. "Our fourth competitor is... Seedpaw."

Seedpaw's eyes widened. _Me?_ She felt her heart about to burst from her chest. _Oh, StarClan._ She was going down.

She felt herself swaying. Foxleap and Birchfall joined her, but she paid no attention. All the cats staring at her, expecting her to come home... and then she met Lilypaw's eyes. Her heart ached, and her head spun.

_Please come home,_ Lilypaw mouthed. Seedpaw could see tears in her eyes.

Seedpaw tried to push back the tears, but they came. She swallowed hard.

Her mind was blank, but then she decided what to say. She breathed in and mouthed,_ I promise._


End file.
